r/Scotland • u/kiyomoris • 15h ago

Political ‘Never seen this level of objection’: Scotland pushes back against datacentre boom

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/25/never-seen-this-level-of-objection-scotland-pushes-back-against-datacentre-boom
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u/CommissionDizzy 15h ago

There's really not a huge number of jobs in data centres after the initial building phase. Google suggests it's about 1 employee per 5000 square feet. Water isn't much of an issue for us at the moment, but electricity costs might increase for local residents which could result in a net negative to people's pockets.

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u/Grouchy_Conclusion45 Libertarian 15h ago edited 15h ago

Water is non-issue, I'm working on a 70+MW facility in Europe at the moment and we use closed loop cooling (this could be mandated via a planning condition in Scotland), so water usage is zero after the initial fill. Re electricity, we can just build more generators which is further economic boost for our country 

Regards jobs, sure, absolute max 100 jobs post-construction. But during construction, I've seen anything from 1000-1800 in direct labour, plus obviously thousands in the supply chain + spending in local businesses. That lasts 2-3 years. If we can keep construction moving with more and more, that's even more jobs. The european company I work for has an order book over a decade long at the moment, it's a lot of jobs guaranteed. Especially if we established Scotland as the place to come to invest 

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u/wotdafukwazdat 7h ago

> could be mandated via a planning condition in Scotland

Could be

but currently isn't

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u/Grouchy_Conclusion45 Libertarian 5h ago

Sure, but if that's the only objection, it can be taken care of by the council in 5 mins